Full Court Press (34 page)

Beck’s jaw clenched.

“But that’s not how I feel at all. I know that it’s hard for you to deal with, without help from your parents and since you keep it all from your friends. I’d like to help, if I could...even if it’s just someone to talk to about it. I think you are doing as much for your sister as you can. I would love nothing more than to help you. I’m sorry, again, for finding out the way that I did, but I don’t think she’s a freak. She needs help, yes, but she’s getting that help. You’re doing all you can and that’s all anyone can ask.”

Beck didn’t say anything, just stood there and looked at her.

While he was thinking, Carmondy finished getting dressed, silently hoping he would trust her.

“I don’t forgive you.” His words said no but his tone wasn’t angry anymore. It was neutral. That was progress, right?

She nodded. “Okay, I can deal with that.”

“Back to what you were saying.”

“About sleeping with you?”

He nodded. “So...what would it take to keep you coming to me?”

She was astounded though she tried not to show it. She didn’t want to annoy him or scare him off. “I’m not asking you to be nice. I’m not trying to change you. I just don’t want something like this,” she gestured to the rest of the room, “to happen again.”

He glanced around the room. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“No, you shouldn’t have.”

“I was angry,” he said flatly.

She shook her head again. “I’m not sure that you realize how scary it was. I know that in the bedroom I get off on stuff similar to that but...”

“It’s not the same, not even close.”

She nodded, glad he understood.

“Then it’s settled.”

“I think so.” She nodded.

“I still don’t want to be around you right now. I need more time to stop hating you.”

She nodded, amazed at how he was handling this, how honest he was being. “I understand. When you think you can stand me again, let me know and I’ll try to make things up to you.” She tried to keep the sexual undertone as mild as she could. This wasn’t exactly the right setting.

He nodded, getting her meaning anyway.

She turned to go. “Okay, I’m going to leave now.”

His hand was on her arm, turning her back around. “We have first period together.”

“Oh...right.”

He stepped closer. “I really am sorry for scaring you like that. It wasn’t fair. I was frustrated. I got in a fight with Anderson and I took it out on you.”

“It’s okay, I— wait, you fought with Anderson?”

Beck nodded and his fingers grazed a hickey that was almost hidden by the collar of her shirt.

“About the bruises?”

Beck nodded again, tugging her shirt down a little to expose another hickey.

“I’m sorry. I tried to tell him, but he wouldn’t listen,” she said.

“He’s just being a good friend. I wouldn’t expect anything less from him if he saw bruises like that. They look...”

“I know,” She brought up a hand to rest again his chest. “But they’re not. What we did was amazing and I—” She leaned up to look at his jaw. “Did you guys get into a fist fight?”

“A bit.”

She touched his jaw lightly. “You’re bruising. I’m sorry.”

He shrugged, his hand sliding around her throat, as he liked to do, but it didn’t frighten her. It soothed her. His thumb stroked up and down her jugular vein, almost calming her.

“You make it really hard for me to hate you,” he said, gazing down at her.

“Why’s that?”

“You’re so innocent.”

“Am not!”

He half smirked, half laughed. “You haven’t told a single person, outside of your little circle of friends who already knew, that you’ve had sex with me. You don’t want anyone to know. You’re shy. Most girls would parade it around the school.”

“I’m not innocent, well...maybe compared to the girls you normally sleep with.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” He sighed and leaned in, sliding his hand around to the back of her neck so he could pull her close and drop his mouth to her skin in a tender kiss.

“You know...” His voice against her skin made her shudder. “Your neck is so gorgeous, so delectable.”

“Umm...thanks.”

He bit her neck lightly before pulling back, releasing her altogether.

She took a moment before regaining some of her composure. “We should get to class.”

He nodded and reached behind her, opening the door.

She turned but hesitated for a moment when Beck’s hand cupped her ass, giving it a light squeeze and then a push. “Go on.” He urged her out into the hallway and she obeyed, his hand falling from her ass as soon as they were within view of others. She couldn’t help but smile.

She continued down the hallway with Beck right behind her. She wasn’t sure if she was forgiven yet but at least he didn’t hate her anymore.

A
fter accounting class, Carmondy saw Anderson weaving in and out of the people in the crowded halls. She had to talk to him, to make sure he knew everything was ok.

“Andy!” she called to him as she shouldered past people.

Anderson heard her and they met near the edge of the hallway. “Have you seen Kendall?”

“No, I haven’t. Can we talk real fast?”

He looked over her shoulder, seeming distracted. “What?”

“Can we talk?”

He focused on her. “Yes, sorry. What is it?”

“I just wanted you to know...” She wasn’t sure how to say this. “Okay, so I know that you and Beck got into a fight over...you know, you thought he had...hurt me.”

Anderson frowned and nodded. “I know you said it’s none of my business, but I—”

She put a hand on his arm. “Andy, please, Beck didn’t hurt me. You know that he would never do something like that.”

“I thought I did but...”

“I’m your friend. I know it looked bad but it was mostly because I’m so beat up from basketball anyway. Beck did not abuse me. Ok? Beck is harsh. And very intense. And a million other things, at times. But he’s never hurt me, not like that. And I think that you know just as much as I do that Beck is a better person than even he believes.”

Anderson nodded slowly, seeming to be thinking it over. “Ok.” He slid his arms around her shoulders and she automatically wrapped her arms around his waist.

He seemed to want to hold her for a few moments, but finally he spoke into her ear. “Just promise that if anyone ever mistreats you in any way, you’ll tell me.”

“I promise.”

“Good.” He gave her a light kiss on the cheek as he pulled away. “I’m still ticked at Beck though. If the stupid bastard would have just explained it to me, I wouldn’t have had to beat him up.”

She smiled lightly. “Oh, you beat him up?”

He shrugged. “Well, you know. He got a couple lucky shots in.”

She tried to hide her smile. “Right.”

Anderson checked his watch. “I’d love to stay and chat, darling, but I gotta get to class on the other side of building.”

She nodded. “I’ll see you around, okay?”

“Yep, buh bye.” He smiled at her one last time before hurrying off into the crowd again.

Carmondy sat in Beck’s house, on one of the comfortable chairs in his living room. Beck, however, didn’t look as comfortable. He was lying on his back, holding his accounting book above him.

They hadn’t gotten started on homework until after dark on account of a pre-game meeting that lasted a little over an hour.

They had been working on the homework for almost an hour and she was exhausted. Between the stress she’d endured that day, the practice, the meeting and pre-game jitters, she was tired and just wanted to go home and sleep.

Beck dropped his book to his chest and closed his eyes. He was tired too.

She curled her legs up under her. “How is your back feeling?”

“It’s all right. I just need to sleep on the floor and I’ll be fine tomorrow for the game as long as I take it easy during PE.”

“Still in pain though?”

He looked up at her from his position on his back. “A bit.”

“I’m sorry. Is there something I can do?”

He pushed the accounting book to the floor. “I’m tired of doing homework.”

“We can finish it before school in the morning,” she suggested.

He nodded and she couldn’t help but notice how stressed he looked.

She stood from the chair. “I’ll head home then.”

His hand latched around her ankle as she tried to walk past. “It’s late... and it started snowing again.”

“I’ll be fine, my Jeep can—”

“You should stay.” He let go of her ankle, leaving the choice up to her.

She thought for a moment. He almost looked lonely, like he wanted company. The moment she though she saw that look on his face, it was gone, replaced by the familiar look of disinterest.

“I can stay for a bit.”

He shrugged. “Will you turn off the light? I’ve got a headache.”

“Sure, do you want some Aspirin or something?”

“No, I took Ibuprofen. Just the lights.”

She flipped off the lights, though the room with still dimly lit by the TV and the lights coming from outside. She sat down on the edge of the blanket that he had spread on the floor but stayed a couple feet away from him.

He sent a glance her way but didn’t say anything, so she got comfortable.

For some reason, she felt that Beck might be more open than he normally was. Whether it was the dim lighting that hid the emotions on his face or the fact that he was sure she wouldn’t touch him without permission, he felt more secure.

“Did you want to talk?”

“I never want to talk,” he said blankly.

“I know, but maybe...we should?”

“We’ve done a lot of talking today.”

“Why stop now?”

He sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it yet, but...I want you to be thinking about something, a favor that you would want from me.”

She was confused. “What?”

“A favor, anything, think of one.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to be asking you to do something for me and I need it to be a trade. I want to make a deal, not have to owe you a favor for God knows how long.”

“Okay, what kind of favor are you talking about?”

“A big one.”

“A sexual favor?” she asked a little nervously.

Beck laughed, actually laughed. He laughed so hard he had to roll onto his side and hold his stomach, “Are you—” He kept laughing, barely getting the words out. “That’s...okay, oh fuck. Ow.” He groaned through his laughter and rolled back onto his back. “Don’t make me laugh so damn hard. It kills my back.”

“Sorry... I... so that’s a ‘no’ on the sexual favors?”

“Why the hell would I need to barter a trade with you for sexual favors? I can get what I want from you, when I want it, however I want it,” he said confidently.

“Good point.”

“So, no, I’m not talking about sexual favors, but if that’s what you want in return...we can probably work something out.”

“Ah, no, I’ll think of something else. Besides, I don’t think I need to barter with you for that kind of stuff either. You seem pretty into it.”

“True.”

“So, I should be thinking of a big favor?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re not going to tell me what favor you’re going to be asking me?”

“No.”

Silence stretched out between them and another wave of exhaustion hit Carmondy. She glanced at Beck, who was staring at the ceiling. He seemed to be fairly tolerant of her tonight so she wanted to try something. She slid down the blanket and stretched out beside him, not touching him. She kept a little distance.

She lay on her stomach and rested her head on her arms, her face turned toward him. He didn’t say anything and didn’t seem to mind.

“Beck?” she asked quietly.

“Hm.”

“Do you still hate me?”

“No.”

“Are you still angry at me?”

“No.”

“I’m incredibly sorry for what I did.”

“I know.”

“I think that...my favor will be for you to forgive me.”

Beck turned to look at her. “Unfortunately, that is something I have to work on myself. It’s not something I can trade.”

She nodded. “I thought as much... it was worth a try though.”

“Yeah.” He faced the ceiling again.

Several minutes of silence stretched out between them again.

Finally, Beck broke it. “You can stay if you want. My bed is just as comfortable as always.”

Carmondy had closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep.

“Carmondy?”

She stayed as still as possible and tried to keep her breathing shallow, curious to see what he would do.

She heard shuffling, and a light blanket settled over her body, ending just below her shoulders. Then she felt something on her forehead...lips. Beck’s lips. They were soft and warm, pressing against her skin for a mere second before they were gone again.

He had kissed her goodnight.

Carmondy cuddled closer to the warmth. It couldn’t be time to wake up yet. It wasn’t possible. She pressed her cheek against what was surely Anderson’s chest and wrapped her arms tighter around the muscular waist.

Wait...Anderson was built, but not this built. Her hand roamed, feeling the six-pack muscles through the T-shirt, tracing them down to the muscular hips, following the contour until...definitely not Anderson.